Farewell, dear friends

Collected by Irene Carlisle
Transcribed by Mary C. Parler
Miss Mary Bedingfield
Springdale, Arkansas
March 1, 1951
Reel 94, Item 3
Farewell, Dear Friends
(Song has been in family ever since she can remember; it was written
(manuscript copy?) by her mother.)
Farewell, dear friends, I'm going to leave you,
Though some may say it very wrong;
But nature binds me to ramble,
So free and willing I will travel on.
And some may say it is adoration,
And some may say it is wandering mind;
And some may say it is some bad action,
That I've been forced to leave my home.
But thanks be to God, I have never murdered,
Nor have I ever any wronged;
I make my money and I spend it,
So free and willing I will travel on.
I'll travel on to the Susquehanna,
And I'll neither stop nor I'll neither stay;
I'll cross right over the St. Lawrence Ferry,
And for Oregon I will bend my way.
And there I'll stop for a short season,
And there I'll stop for awhile to stay,
Till I hear from my friends and my relations,
And that dear girl that is far away.
Her name to you I'll never mention,
Let friends prove ever so kind and true;
But the best of friends can keep a secret;
They can keep one best they never knew.

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Collected by Irene Carlisle
Transcribed by Mary C. Parler
Miss Mary Bedingfield
Springdale, Arkansas
March 1, 1951
Reel 94, Item 3
Farewell, Dear Friends
(Song has been in family ever since she can remember; it was written
(manuscript copy?) by her mother.)
Farewell, dear friends, I'm going to leave you,
Though some may say it very wrong;
But nature binds me to ramble,
So free and willing I will travel on.
And some may say it is adoration,
And some may say it is wandering mind;
And some may say it is some bad action,
That I've been forced to leave my home.
But thanks be to God, I have never murdered,
Nor have I ever any wronged;
I make my money and I spend it,
So free and willing I will travel on.
I'll travel on to the Susquehanna,
And I'll neither stop nor I'll neither stay;
I'll cross right over the St. Lawrence Ferry,
And for Oregon I will bend my way.
And there I'll stop for a short season,
And there I'll stop for awhile to stay,
Till I hear from my friends and my relations,
And that dear girl that is far away.
Her name to you I'll never mention,
Let friends prove ever so kind and true;
But the best of friends can keep a secret;
They can keep one best they never knew.